Mike

It felt so good to have her in my arms again, just hugging her, taking in her familiar scent of Vanilla. I watched as Vic pull out of the group hug, before Sophia pulled away also. I looked down at her and smiled slightly as she wiped away her tears.

“I feel like we should go back outside.” She said.

Both Vic and I agreed and stood up. Vic smiled at us both and headed back outside, while Sophia and I stayed behind.

“Are you okay?” I asked her.

She turned to me and nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” She smiled.

“Good. I promise Vic and I will make this up to you.” I said pulling her into a hug.

“I hope so Mike, I don’t want to lose you both again.” She sighed.

I watched as she started crying again. Sighing, I reached up and wiped her tears away.

“Come on, stop crying and we’ll go outside and have some fun.”

She giggled and nodded.

We made our way outside where everyone was and immediately, Craig came rushing over.

“Soph, you alright?” He asked, pulling her into a hug.

I watched on and rolled my eyes.

“Craig, I’m fine.” Sophia sighed.

“Why are you crying?” He questioned.

“Look Craig, I’m fine, so drop it.”

“No Soph, if you’re crying because of him I want to know.” Craig spat.

“Dude, I suggest you calm down before I kick you out. She said she’s fine so drop it!” I said, butting in.

“How about you stay the fuck out of this? You’re the reason all this bullshit started in the first place.” He said, getting up in my face, or trying to at least.

I glared down at him, waiting to see if he would do anything, before speaking again.

“You really need to learn to let things go, because if Sophia can then so should you.” I spoke calmly.

“No, because you are the reason she was so down when I first met her, you were the reason she hated last night and you are the reason she goes against everything I say now.” He spat.

“Just shut up.” Sophia shouted. “The both of you, please.”

I turned to her and frowned as she rubbed her temple. By now, everyone in the garden had stopped what they were doing and watching us. I saw Vic make his way over, causing me to hold my hand up, telling him not to do anything, as he just stood by me.

“Craig, what has gotten into you? You were fine this morning and now you want to do nothing but argue and fight.” Sophia frowned.

“You don’t understand do you?” He all but shouted at her.

“Don’t raise your voice at her.” Vic warned.

“What you gonna do? Bitch slap me?” Craig smirked.

I growled at him, ready to hit him, when I felt someone place their hand on my arm. I looked down and noticed it to be Sophia’s.

“Don’t.” She whispered.

I sighed and stepped back.

“Sophia, please just see where I’m coming from will you? When I met you, you told me you had these friends who just up and left and if you ever saw them again you wouldn’t give them the time or day. You would just ignore them like they were to you. But now they’re back in your life you want to spend every waking moment with them. It feels like you’re ignoring me for them and to be honest, it scares me.” Craig said.

I looked at him and shook my head, Vic doing the same.

“Well then you’re stupid Craig. It was only yesterday I saw them again for the first time and it’s not like I left you on purpose to talk to them. I just so happened to stumble across them on the way back. And as for today, get over it. Mike came over this morning apologising again, practically begging for forgiveness, and asked if I would consider coming here tonight so he came prove just how sorry he is.” Sophia said.

I smiled slightly. I was still kind of shocked that she was here, I mean, even though she said she doesn’t, I still got this vibe that she hate or at least strongly disliked us.

“But you didn’t have to come did you, you had the choice, yet you still chose to come here.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a bit unfair here, Craig?” Vic questioned stepping in.

“No, I don’t. I think I have every right to be like this. After all, you are the ones who just left her here. Yet now you want to act like nothing’s happened.” He said, getting close to Vic.

I put my arm in the way and moved Vic back, telling him to calm down.

“We’re not acting like nothing’s happened Craig, if we were would we be continuously trying to make it up to Sophia. Have some respect dude, we’ve been friends for years and although it wouldn’t seem like it from the past year, we care about her and we don’t want to lose her for good, like she doesn’t want to lose us. So if she wants to spend time with us, let her, it’s not down to you, you’re her boyfriend not her dad. She’s old enough to decide for herself. So let her. We aren’t going to stop her from seeing you, we’re letting her choose.” I said, calmly. “So please, no arguing. I wanted tonight to be fun.”

After that, I walked over to where all the food and drinks were, grabbing myself a bottle and opening it. I took a big gulp and looked over at where Sophia and Craig were still stood. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but it looked like she was shouting at him as he glared at her.

I saw Tony make his way over to me, grabbing another beer also.

“You okay?” He asked.

I nodded and kept my eyes on the couple.

“What’s going on?” Tony asked.

“He thinks Sophia is picking Vic and I over him.” I grumbled.

I quickly looked at Tony to see him nodding as he told a sip of his beer.

“I get a bad vibe off him.” Tony muttered suddenly.

“You too?” I asked.

“You feel it as well?”

I nodded.

“Since the glare he sent me yesterday when he came over to Sophia outside the venue. He just comes across as controlling sometimes.” I sighed.

Tony nodded and continued to look at the couple. Vic made his way over next, taking a glance at them and shaking his head.

“I can’t believe him.” He groaned.

“Why? What’s he done?” I asked, suddenly alert.

“He’s trying to stop her from seeing us again.”

I frowned and continued to look over at them, I couldn’t take my eyes off them, I was worried that if I looked away from a split second he would do something terribly wrong. I felt my frown deepen, when he roughly pulled her to him and smashing is lips against hers. She pushed him away and glared and started shouting at him again.

“You still have feelings for her.” Vic stated.

Not even a question, he knew. He could read me like an open book. I nodded and took a sip of the beer in my hand.

I remember one night after spending the day with Sophia, I got home and decided I needed to talk to Vic. I needed to tell him how I felt about her. As soon as I told him, I got an ‘I know’. He told me to tell her, she might feel the same, which in reply I told him was stupid. She was and still is stunning. Why would she want to be with me? I didn’t want to risk ruining our friendship, it was not a risk I was willing take. I’d rather try and ignore my feelings than having her feel awkward around me.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by Vic placing a hand on my shoulder. He pointed over at the couple, telling me to go and help. I nodded and placed my beer on the table behind me. I started walking over, when someone grabbed my arm, causing me to turn around and face Kim, Sophia’s mom.

“Mike don’t. I know you want to help but it’ll cause trouble, it’s bad enough that it’s already about you and Vic, don’t make it worse.” She said.

“I’m just trying to help. He looks like he’s hurting her.” I frowned, turning around to look at them and see him gripping her wrist tightly.

“I’ll go and talk to them and send Soph to you, okay? It’ll upset her if you end up in a fight with Craig.”

I sighed and nodded, watching as she made her way over to them. Craig immediately let go of Sophia, panic washing over him, causing me to smirk. He turned to me and glared and I chuckled and shook my head, walking back over to Tony and Vic.

They both just looked at me, Tony raising an eyebrow as I just shook my head, picking my beer up again, gulping the rest of it down. I threw the empty bottle in the bin at the end of the table before picking up another one.

I looked up to see Mom stood there, looking at me worried as I smiled at her, before turning around, coming face to face with Casey. He held up the box of cigarettes, which I gladly accepted, taking one out of the box as he lit it. In inhaled the smoke, letting it fill my lungs, relaxing me almost instantly, before releasing it.

Looking back over to where Sophia and Craig were, I saw Soph making her way over towards us, frowning. I looked at her worried as her eye caught mine. She shook her head and stopped in front of me.

“What was that all about?” I asked concerned.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” She sighed.

I frowned and nodded, finishing off the cigarette I had, before chucking it on the ground.

“Drink?” I asked.

She nodded as I turned around and opened another beer bottle, before handing it too her, knowing it was what she preferred. She thanked me, and took a big gulp.

“Dude, where’s the whiskey?” Casey asked.

“Inside, I was saving it for later.” I muttered.

“Judging by the looks of things, we need it sooner.” He said, walking inside.

I shook my head as Sophia took his space next to me.

“Tell me about touring.” She said.

“It’s the best feeling in the world.” I said simply.

“That it?” She questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“No, but it’s all you need to know for now.”

“What are the fans like?” She questioned.

“The best fans in the world. Actually there are more than I thought there was, it’s been insane, seeing them all.” I grinned.

“Glad to hear. I’m proud of you Mike, I really am. You also, Vic.”

I turned around to see Vic stop his conversation with Tony and face us, both of them now joining in our conversation.

“Thanks Soph, it’s means a lot, coming from you.” Vic said, pulling her into a hug.

“Eh, I’m not that special, Vic.” She giggled.

I frowned at that.

“Don’t say that. You’re special to us. You’ve been with us from the get go, your opinion on this means the most, along with our parents.” I said.

She smiled and pulled out of the hug with Vic and turned to Tony.

“So how did you join the band?” She asked.

“I worked in a guitar store and these guys would come in quite often and one asked me if I wanted to join.” Tony said, almost shyly.

“And what about Jaime?”

“He was in another band with me, so I told these two and they got me to ask him.” Tony asked.

“That’s awesome.”

We continued talking about the band and catching up with each other’s lives, when Craig comes over, glaring at Vic and I.

“I’m sorry about earlier, baby.” He said, to Sophia, placing his hands on her hips and pulling her to him.

“You embarrassed me, Craig.” She sighed.

“I know and I’m sorry. You know I love you.”

She nodded and leant up to kiss him, before he pulled her into a hug. He looked over at me and smirked, before pulling away and kissing her again.

“I better get going now though, I have things to do tomorrow.” He sighed.

“But it’s only 8.30 and it’s your day off tomorrow.” Sophia frowned.

“I know, but I’m tired and I just don’t feel like being here anymore.” He said.

She sighed and nodded.

“Alright, well I’ll see you Saturday then.” She said, giving him one last kiss.

He nodded and kissed her cheek before saying bye to our parents and Sophia’s mom, and walking back inside the house.

I turned to Vic and handed him my drink.

“I’ll be back in a minute.” I said.

“Mike, don’t cause any trouble.” He said.

“I won’t I just want a word with him.”

He nodded and continued what he was doing, as I made my way inside, Sophia watching nervously. I just smiled at her, causing her to smile back and turn back around.

I walked through the house and out the front door, as I saw Craig turn out of the front yard and start making his way down the street.

“Hey, wait.” I said loudly, causing him to stop and turn around.

Once he saw it was me, he glared and came storming over, grabbing the collar of my shirt and pinning me against the wall.

“You stay away from her, stay out of her life. She was happy before you came back.” He growled.

“Get the fuck off me.” I seethed, grabbing his wrists and throwing him off me.

“I’m warning you Mike.” He pointed.

“And I’m warning you. You lay a finger on her like that again and you won’t know what’s hit you!” I said through gritted teeth.

He chuckled and shook his head in disbelief.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He said.

“Bullshit!” I shouted. “I saw the way you grabbed her, and the bruise already forming on her wrist. If you truly loved her, you wouldn’t treat her like that.” I said.

“That was an accident.” He frowned.

“Didn’t look like an accident to me. You knew exactly what you were doing. Don’t ever do that to her again.” I warned.

“You don’t really care do you? You’ve been gone for a year and come back and try and act like you’re here to save the day, when we all know as soon as you go back on tour you’ll forget about her again. Don’t say you won’t because you will, guys like you are always like that.” He glared.

“Guys like me?” I laughed. “I don’t think it’s me she needs to worry about, I’m not the one bruising her.” I said.

“But I’m not the one who left her broken hearted when she needed me most.”

“Oh but you will soon if you don’t sort out your attitude with her.” I stated.

“Why do you care so much, aye? You have feelings for her, is that it? You trying your best to get me away from her so you can have her all for yourself?” He smirked.

“I am not trying to get you away from her, when you’re not hurting her, she looks happy, why would I take that away from her?” I asked.

“Because you have feelings for her.” He said again.

“Maybe I do, but I’d rather ignore those feelings and work on getting my friendship with her back on track.”

“I knew it.” He grinned.

“Listen to me Craig, last night I asked you to promise to look after her, I believed you really could, but you’re kind of proving me wrong tonight. I get you hate me and that I’m the reason she’s like she was when you first met her and last night, and I’ve apologised countless of times to her and will continue to do so until she slaps me for being annoying, which will most likely come soon. But you can’t be mad at her. We were best friends at one point and we’re not just going to throw it all away because I was a jerk. You can’t stop her from wanting to see Vic and I, and you most certainly and stopping us from going round hers. It’s something you’re going to have to get used to whether you like it or not.” I said, firmly.

He just stared at me, before nodding and walking off. I shook my head and started mumbling under my breath as I made my way back inside and out the back to where everyone else was.

Notes

What do you think of Mike's P.O.V.?